Recently I discovered a new way to get about in Germany. Having surfed for hours on the internet, to try and find a discounted airfare or train ticket from Frankfurt to Berlin, I eventually gave up hope of finding anything less than 200 euros return. Outrageous prices! Even the bus companies which normally offer reasonable rates were asking 178 euros return. It is only a 5.5 hour trip on the autobahn and 1 hour in a plane.
A friend suggested I look at one of the car sharing sites that are now on offer and to my surprise I found people departing on the day I wanted at the time I wanted and also returning 4 days later at the right hour.
There are 2 sites that seem to be most used and these are:
http://www.mitfahrzentrale.de/ (travel with central)
which has quite a few listings but in order to get the drivers contact number you have to call a number that costs 1.89 euros.
The second site:
http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ (travel with opportunities)
is far nicer as it is a free service and the contact details for the owner drivers are listed on screen.
I managed to organise a lift up to Berlin for 25 euros and a return ride for 30 euros. Quite a saving over the ridiculous prices asked by the main public transport providers.
My trip up to Berlin turned out to be with a nice young guy named Sebastian who had just completed a film & video degree and was currently looking for a job in a film editing room. The other 2 people in the car were a Lufthansa software trainee and a political student from Darmstadt. Everyone was really pleasant and the trip was full of many interesting and varied conversations. Way cooool !!! When we got to Berlin the traffic was just insane but thanks to Sebastians local knowledge we found ourselves ducking and weaving around the back streets and were at our drop off point in no time at all. What it is to have local knowledge. Fantastic.
On my return trip I landed a ride with a young Polish couple, Patryk and Izabela who both work in the financial trade in Frankfurt. They were a delightful couple who were really very good company. We traded stories of our various travels. I learned quite a bit about Poland and they something of Australia. We compared notes on places around Germany and all told, despite the long delays caused by traffic jams created by the Berlin Marathon and the Saturday night Pearl Jam concert, it was a very enjoyable journey. I hope to see them again sometime and hopefully get to enjoy a beer or two with them.
As an alternative mode of travel I highly recommend it. I may have simply gotten lucky with the rides I had but I have the feeling that most people offering to share their car on a trip are usually of an interesting nature. A great way to meet new people and possibly make new friends. C'est La Vie !
